Go Spurs GO!!!

WOOOHOOOO!!!! The San Antonio Spurs are the NBA Champions for the FOURTH time! WOOHOOO!!!!Today, we went to the Spurs Championship Party at the Alamodome. It was *very* loud! We had a blast and ate some really expensive food.


The Coyote dropped in from the ceiling of the Alamodome!

Here come the Champs! My goodness, that's a lot of hardware.

Team is everything!

San Antonio loves Manu!!

Hola Abuelo y Abuelita!

Bean and I flew to Texas today. We had a layover in Newark, New Jersey, where we had American pizza for the first time in 2 years! Woohoo! We love Sbarro's! After that, it was another 4 hour flight to Houston to see Hubby's parents. Bean was delighted to find that she is at least a couple inches taller than her Abuela (and is now calling her "Abuelita" which means "little grandmother").

We also had a chance to see two of Hubby's brothers. Here is a picture of Bean with Hubby's oldest brother:

We'll be here until the 13th and then it's off to San Antonio.

TTFN!

Recital day!!!

This morning started early (not the crack of dawn though, because at this time of year and this far north, that's about 0400!). Bean and I hustled to get ourselves ready and make sure we had everything organized for all of her dances and my two.

The recital was titled "Seasons of Dance" and had different dances for every month of the year. They had HUGE balloons that they changed out as each "month" changed. It was really cool!

Leading off, Bean performed with her Elite Ballet class in a number titled "Chinese New Year" in the "month" of January. She did great!! I had not seen that dance and I was so impressed with her grace and her abilities. She smiled all the way through and really lit up the stage.

Next was March and St. Patrick's Day. Needless to say, this was a busy "month" for both of us. She and I danced together for my class's "Maidens of Donegal". Then, she dashed off the stage for a quick costume change and shoe change to perform "Celtic Myth" (during which she had to change shoes *again*!).

Finally, her tap class, her class performed the "Cotton Eyed Joe" for the month of August. Bean was the only one smiling all the way through. I'm so impressed with her stage presence. Now, if we could just get her to do that at Feisanna!

That was just the first show!

For the second show, we didn't have to dance until "March". Those dances were the same, but with the addition of "St. Patrick's People" for Bean.

Finally, Bean wrapped up this year's recital list with "Tango" with her Elite Pointe class. Her dress was SO beautiful! She looked so great on stage and I would never have guessed that her shoes were falling off (she told me later).

It was so much fun, but I'm so relieved it's finally over!! We had a great year in dance and can't wait for next year!

TTFN~

We got to meet Becky from Survivor!!

She is touring the bases here in Europe for an MWR thing. She came to the local exchange and we were first in line to meet her. She was very sweet and talked to us about how nervous all the contestants were when they realized they were splitting the tribes along "racial" lines. She said it all turned out well in the end, though. Bean wouldn't let me ask her how come she wasn't dating Yul! LOL

Happy Father's Day!!!

Okay, we're two weeks and a day early, but since we won't be here, we decided to give DH a day that was all about him.

For his prezzies, we gave him Band of Brothers on DVD (hey, he'll need something to do while we're away!) and a new backpack from LL Bean. This one is vastly superior to the one he's been using since college(!). It has two water bottle holders plus a bungie strap that will hold a lightweight jacket on the outside. Very cool!

We didn't do anything terribly exciting, though. We did go to IKEA and dream about some new furniture pieces, but everything we want is too big to fit in our car! LOL

Actually, the biggest surprise of the day is that DH got us tickets to see the American Idol Tour on my birthday!! WOOHOO!!

Adventures in Cookie Baking

Our church small group was meeting here at our home tonight and it is the birthday of one of the kids (Happy 9th, R!!). Bean decided she wanted to bake some cookies for the occasion and she invited one of her best friends, Tiger, over to help. Bean and I have baked cookies together many, MANY times, so I figured an almost-12-year-old and a just-turned-13-year-old would have no problems with baking a batch of cookies from a recipe.
HA!
As I was upstairs, they were downstairs working in the kitchen and I heard much giggling (they are girls, after all!). I finally ventured downstairs to see how it was going. Oh, how I wish I'd had the camera with me. Bean and Tiger were both liberally coated in flour. There was a *mound* of cookie dough on the island, surrounded by what was possibly enough flour to make another batch of cookies. Now, keep in mind that these were Oatmeal/Chocolate Chip/Walnut cookies, your basic "drop by rounded spoonfuls"/KEEP THE DOUGH IN THE BOWL cookie recipe. Yet, somehow, Bean and Tiger had managed to use almost every one of my Pampered Chef kitchen tools (the cookie scoop I could understand, but I'm still not clear on how the Mini Tart Shaper got involved! There was also some rolling pin involvement--I'm grateful she doesn't know where I keep the cookie cutters. LOL). The story I ended up getting was that once they had stirred in the oats and chocolate chips, there simply wasn't any more room in the bowl for them to mix in the walnuts (BTW, they used my bag of walnut halves, not the bag of walnut pieces I had purchased with this project in mind), so they thought mixing it on the island would be easier (not neater, just easier). About the Mini Tart Shaper, I was told they were trying to use it to break down the butter ("Did you put the butter in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften it?" I inquired. Blank looks ensued.). No satisfactory answer has been forthcoming about the involvement of the rolling pin, though.
It looks like this summer might be a good time for a refresher course in Cookie Basics 101!
The cookies turned out a little lumpy looking (the walnut halves), but they *are* delicious. Bean & Tiger have dubbed them "Choc-O-Dough Cookies" and plan to put them in a cookbook they have decided to write together. I can't wait to see what else they create.
TTFN~